I recently moved in with by boyfriend and his female spayed cat (Q). About a month ago, I brought my cat over (Stella, SF). She has some stress problems before that caused litterbox issues so she has been on 3mg of Prozac a day for 3 months. Everything started well. She was secluded to one room, using her 2 boxes religiously. after a week we let her out to just the basement, still went well.
We had introduced the cats around 2 weeks in, and Q would growl, Stella would ignore her, Q would give up, and they were able to be in the same room together. The problem is that now that Stella has become comfortable in the house, her and Q have been fighting (no actual attacks, just a lot of noise and swatting). Stella has now taken to peeing outside the litterbox again.
The biggest issue is that we are having a hard time introducing the cats. Q is extremely skittish and only ever comes out at night if no one pays attention to her (or stands up, or moves). Stella is very outgoing, so she spends the day following you around wanting attention. We can never get them to come out at the same time (on purpose) to even start getting them comfortable with each other.
Stella is going to have to be put back in her room at night, as that is when Q comes out, they fight, and Stella pees on the floor. I also called the vet to see about changing medication or upping her dose to maybe chill her out a little bit so she will ignore Q again.
Both cats previously lived with other cats and co-habitated fine with them. I don't know if i'm just venting or looking for opinions on a better way to introduce them, but I would appreciate any input. This is going to cause a huge fight if if continues, and I already know I will have to get rid of Stella. I'm lucky that I can take back to my parent's house, so its not like she would be going to a shelter or an unknown home.
We had introduced the cats around 2 weeks in, and Q would growl, Stella would ignore her, Q would give up, and they were able to be in the same room together. The problem is that now that Stella has become comfortable in the house, her and Q have been fighting (no actual attacks, just a lot of noise and swatting). Stella has now taken to peeing outside the litterbox again.
The biggest issue is that we are having a hard time introducing the cats. Q is extremely skittish and only ever comes out at night if no one pays attention to her (or stands up, or moves). Stella is very outgoing, so she spends the day following you around wanting attention. We can never get them to come out at the same time (on purpose) to even start getting them comfortable with each other.
Stella is going to have to be put back in her room at night, as that is when Q comes out, they fight, and Stella pees on the floor. I also called the vet to see about changing medication or upping her dose to maybe chill her out a little bit so she will ignore Q again.
Both cats previously lived with other cats and co-habitated fine with them. I don't know if i'm just venting or looking for opinions on a better way to introduce them, but I would appreciate any input. This is going to cause a huge fight if if continues, and I already know I will have to get rid of Stella. I'm lucky that I can take back to my parent's house, so its not like she would be going to a shelter or an unknown home.
